BOX OFFICE BEAT DOWN: Iron Man 2 Defends Its Title with an Additional $53 Million

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

1

Iron Man 2

2

Robin Hood

3

Letters to Juliet

4

Just Wright

5

How to Train Your Dragon

6

A Nightmare on Elm Street

7

Date Night

8

The Back-Up Plan

9

Furry Vengeance

10

Clash of the Titans

The summer movie season started to heat up this weekend with the release of director Ridley Scott's highly anticipated film, Robin Hood, a re-imagining of the classic character starring Russell Crowe. However the legendary archer was no match for the man-of-iron as Iron Man 2 took the number one spot for a second week in a row with an additional $53 million, which was less than it's $68.9 million predicted weekend total. The film, which is directed by Jon Favreau and stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. While the film dropped almost 60% from its opening weekend it added ten theaters and still managed to earn around $12,000 on each of it's 4,390 screens. The film has now earned in just two weeks an impressive $212 million domestically, which should make Marvel Studios and Paramount executives very happy considering its $200 million production cost. Coming in right behind at number two this weekend was Ridley Scott's Robin Hood. The film stars Oscar winner Russell Crowe as the famous bow & arrow wielding hero, along with fellow Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and William Hurt, and accomplished actors Mark Strong (Kick-Ass) and Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) rounding out the cast. While the film was predicted to earn the number two spot right behind Iron Man 2 this weekend it did earn less than it's $62.1 million predicted total, only bringing in around $37 million. The movie opened on 3,503 screens and earned about $10,595 per screen but will still have a ways to go if it wants to earn back its purported $200 million production cost.

Debuting at number three this week is the romantic comedy, Just Wright, set in the world of the NBA starring former rappers Queen Latifah and Common. While the film was predicted to earn the third spot this week with $15.5 million it ended up only making around $8.5 million. The movie opened on 1,831 screens and earned almost $4,642 per screen. Slipping one spot back from last week to number four is the animated movie that just won't quit, How to Train Your Dragon, which earned another 5.1 million this weekend. The film, which stars Gerard Butler, Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig has now made $207 million in eight weeks on the charts, surpassing it's $165 million production cost. While the film dropped 23.4% and was seen on 383 less screens than the week before, it still managed to earn $1,954 on each of its 2,620 screens. Rounding out the top five this week and dropping almost 50%, as well as two spots from last week is A Nightmare On Elm Street. Director Samuel Bayer's re-imagining of the classic 1984 horror film stars Oscar Award nominee Jackie Earle Haley as the iconic character and earned an additional $4.7 million at the box office this weekend. The film was seen on 257 less screens than the week before but still managed to earn $1,528 on each of its 3,075 screens. The film has now earned around $56 million in just three weeks, well beyond it's $35 million production cost.

Doing well this week in limited release is the documentary Best Worst Movie about the making of '1989s Troll 2. The film, which was only seen in one theater this weekend earned nearly $8,500 on that screen, bringing the film's total gross to around $18,900 in only four weeks of release. Also, continuing to do well in limited release is Please Give, which stars Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet and Oliver Platt. The film, which rose an exceptional 22.3% this week also added 23 new theaters and managed to earn an additional $295,000 in its third week. The film was seen on 49 screens and managed to earn $6,020 on each screen. Finally, the Imax 3D space documentary Hubble 3D continues to do well in limited release. The film went up 16.4% from the previous week and managed to earn $7,000 in each of its 48 theaters for a weekend total of $336,000, which brings the films total gross to around $5.7 million in just nine weeks on the charts.